“I really like you,” Holloway said, to Sullivan.

“Shut up,” Sullivan said back. Holloway smiled.

Sullivan returned his attention to DeLise. “Now, Mr. DeLise,” he said. “I asked you a question: Are you stupid?”

“No,” DeLise growled.

“Really,” Sullivan said. “Because you could have fooled me. Because, as I’m sure you know, Mr. Holloway here has recently discovered the single largest sunstone find in the history of the known universe. Possibly worth more than a trillion credits, of which his cut is going to be several billion credits. You know this?”

“Yes,” DeLise said.

“Good. Now tell me, Mr. DeLise, what do you think will happen when Mr. Holloway suddenly shows up dead in a ZaraCorp security holding cell? Is anyone anywhere in the known universe going to believe an idiot security guard’s story that he was resisting? Or is the Colonial Authority going to open up a full investigation, prying into all of ZaraCorp’s businesses here, looking for other examples of corporate intimidation and assassination? Are the Colonials going to halt exploitation of the sunstone seam while it conducts its investigation, costing millions to the corporation?

“Are Mr. Holloway’s heirs and assigns going to blithely stand by during all of this, or are they going to sue for wrongful death, adding millions to the billions they already stand to inherit? And are you, Mr. DeLise, going to end up doing anything other than spending the rest of your life in a two-and-a-half-by-three-meter prison cell once ZaraCorp decides the easiest way to make this all go away is to pin it all on you? Tell me again you’re not stupid, Mr. DeLise. I would really like to hear it.”

DeLise, entirely cowed now, turned his gaze away.

Sullivan glared at all three security officers. “I need to make this crystal clear. You need to understand this and you need to make sure every other security officer understands this as well. There is one person on Zara Twenty-three you cannot touch, and it is Mr. Holloway. He is worth too goddamn much. If anything happens to him, the Colonial Authority will be here, and it will shove microscopes as far into our collective asses as they will go. Your job from this moment on is to make sure he stays alive and happy. And, Mr. DeLise, if that means you spend the rest of your time here being punched in the face by Mr. Holloway every time he sees you, then what you’ll do is smile and ask if you can have another. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir,” DeLise said in a tone that Holloway suspected he hadn’t used since he was eight years old. The other two officers nodded.

“Good,” Sullivan said, and looked back to DeLise. “Now tell Mr. Holloway you’re sorry.”

“What?” DeLise said, genuinely shocked.

“You tried to stave in the back of his head with a pool cue, as I understand it,” Sullivan said. “That needs an apology. Do it. Now.”

Holloway watched DeLise’s face and wondered if it really was possible to induce a stroke. As amusing as that was, Holloway suspected Sullivan might have taken things one step too far for DeLise’s little cow brain. “It’s all right,” Holloway said. “In fact, I should be the one apologizing to Joe. Let’s just say I went out celebrating at another bar and had a little too much fight in me and Joe had to bring me back down to earth. No harm, no foul. Let’s forget it.”

Sullivan looked at Holloway, figuring out what he was doing and why. “Fine with me,” he said, after a minute. “Fine with you, Mr. DeLise?”

“Fine,” DeLise said, looking squarely at Holloway with a look that suggested the two of them should never ever be alone in a room together. That was all right with Holloway.

“Fine,” Sullivan said again. “Then I think we’re done here. I’m taking Mr. Holloway with me. Unless there are any additional objections?”

There were none.

“You are damn good,” Holloway said, when they were outside the security offices. “I can see why Isabel likes you.”

“Glad you think so,” Sullivan said. “Because we’re never doing that again. Our mutual friend just burned through a lot of her personal credit getting me to save your ass back there. I was happy to do it, because I think you know how I feel about her.”

“I do,” Holloway said.

“If you have a problem with that, I need you to tell me now,” Sullivan said. “I don’t like surprises.”

Holloway shrugged. “I screwed up with Isabel,” he said. “She’s not the sort who lets you screw up with her twice. You’re good.”

“Good,” Sullivan said. “Like I said, happy to help her, and to help you. But that’s a onetime event. You assaulted a security officer. And not just any security officer. One that gets his kicks being an asshole with a badge. That’s just dumb. You screw up again like that, Holloway, and you’re on your own. I hope I’m making myself clear.”

“You are,” Holloway said. “You’re right. I was dumb. I won’t do it again. Or at least I won’t expect you or Isabel to bail me out if I do.”

“Fair enough,” Sullivan said. He looked Holloway up and down. “How do you feel?”

“Like I got my head bashed in,” Holloway said.

“There’s a reason for that,” Sullivan said. “Right, then. First, hospital, to get that concussion checked. Then you can borrow my couch for the rest of the night. Where’s your skimmer?”

“With Louis Ng,” Holloway said, naming Aubreytown’s mechanic. “He’s banging out some dents and restringing my EREs. It’ll be ready tomorrow around noon.”

“You have an accident?” Sullivan asked.

“I’ll tell you about it later,” Holloway said. “Hey, did you really mean it that if anything happened to me that the Colonial Authority would look into it?”

“If you died in ZaraCorp security custody?” Sullivan said. “That’s a given. If you wrapped your skimmer around a tree, probably not. But there’s no reason for them to know that.” Sullivan motioned back toward the security office. “They certainly seem to have it in for you.”

“Not all of them,” Holloway said.

“DeLise for sure,” Sullivan said.

“Yeah,” Holloway said. “Thanks for saving my ass. I owe you. You’re going to have to wait until they start mining those sunstones for me to repay you, though. I’m spending most of my money on fixing my skimmer.”

“You can repay me by giving me a lift,” Sullivan said. “When Isabel got me out looking for you, she said to have you bring me back with you. She says there’s something she wants to talk to me about in my capacity as ZaraCorp’s counsel. I have no idea what that’s about. Do you?”

“I might,” Holloway said. He rubbed his head and felt a new headache coming on.

Chapter Thirteen

“Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” Sullivan asked Holloway.

Holloway glanced back at Sullivan, who was sitting on a side bench in the skimmer. It was not well designed for extra passengers; the side bench sat two, and not terribly comfortably. Sullivan didn’t complain.

“You kept me from being beaten to death,” Holloway said, turning forward again to watch the endless jungle pass under the skimmer, on its way back to his treetop compound. “That rates a couple of honest answers.” “How did you get disbarred?” Sullivan asked.

Holloway snorted in surprise. “Okay, I wasn’t expecting that,” he said. “I thought you were going to ask me what happened with Isabel and me.” “I heard that story from her already,” Sullivan said. “Her version of it, anyway. But she says you wouldn’t talk about the disbarment.” “It’s not hard to find the details,” Holloway said. “It got written up in the newsfeeds. I don’t talk about it because it was a case of me being stupid.” “When you sell it like that, I definitely want to hear about it,” Sullivan said.

Holloway sighed and hit the autopilot, then swiveled around to face Sullivan. “Clearly, you know I was lawyer,” he said.